under the water (we are alone)
by laaichan
Summary: Keith hated hospitals. He never thought he would have to step foot in a hospital again, after he swore to never come back. (Or AKA Keith visit Shiro who is in a coma, everyday for the past year, feeling that he could never be happy again, until he met Lance)
1. there was a boy

Keith hated hospitals.

He never thought he would have to step foot in a hospital again, after he swore to never come back. Hospitals reminded him of how he felt the last time he was in there. He remembers the feeling of being lost, of being angry with everyone, of sorrow, of how the universe betrayed him. It was in there that he had lost everything. And it was in there he realized how really alone he was. Until the day he met Shiro.

To Keith, hospitals were one of the most hated places that existed, or one of the worst places to be. He understood the need and the situation for a hospital to exist, but he didn't understand why he had to be there again. Why did all this happen? Why? Maybe the universe really hated him? Maybe it was because he was finally happy, had a family and friends who liked him and the universe understood this as a sign that his luck was over and it was time for him to lose everything again.

After being able to have a family again, Keith forgot all those feelings, but he never thought that he was going through the same thing that happened four years ago, when he lost both of his parents in a fire. He was so alone for a long time until he was adopted by Shiro, as his brother. Keith never thought that the same thing was about to happen, he never thought that he was going to lose Shiro, just as he lost his parents all those years ago.

He remembers, and he never wanted to feel the way he did again, he wasn't prepare to lose his family again.

* * *

Keith looked at the huge hospital entrance and sighed. Another day in this place.

He entered the building, and went straight to the receptionist, who smiled at him and already gave him his visitor badge. He went there for so long that she stopped asking him for register the request to visit a patient. Almost everyone who worked in that hospital knew who Keith is, and who is going to visit.

"How are you today, Keith? Did you sleep well?" Romelle asked after Keith took his badge from her.

He shrugged.

"I think that you already know the answer" he said, rubbing his eyes "I'm the same as I am everyday" he answered, putting his badge on his shirt.

Romelle gave him an apologetically smiled. She seems to do this very often when they talked.

"Don't give up hope" she said, in a sincere tone "I think I already told you this, but don't give up. He will wake up eventually"

Keith felt at little uncomfortable as Romelle looked at him intensively. He cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Is Allura here today?"

Romelle frowned and sighed, a sign that she wasn't completely happy with his change of subject. Keith felt at little guilty because she was only trying to help him, but he was never good at talking about his feeling. He usually punched a near wall and cursed, and he was good. Sometimes Keith asked himself if Romelle was more worried about his physical state or his mental health. Maybe it was both, he couldn't tell.

"She is" Romelle said, consulting her computer, before turning again to Keith "I think she is with Dr. Coran and a new patient"

"Oh" Keith looked at the clock that it was hung on the wall behind Romelle. "I should get going"

"Ok, see you around Keith." She waved at him, and turned back at the computer to continue to work.

Keith walked to the same hallway and took the same elevator to the same fifth floor where the patient room was located, the same floor that he walked every single day for the last year. He looked around at the same white walls and located the 510 room. Shiro's private room. Keith walked towards Shiro's room, noticing that the private room 507 was being occupied. He heard Allura's voice echoing through the hallway as she talked in her professional tone. Another voice, a man's, filled the hallway and Keith recognized the smug tone in his voice

That must be the new patient, he thought.

Keith walked passed through the closed door where the voices was amplified, now Dr. Coran's voice with the other two, and shook his head. What matters now is Shiro.

He opened the door of the room, and immediately felt a chill run through his body. Shiro's room was silent, except for the beep of the machine that was connected to him, showing the beating of his heart. The room was dimly lit, the curtains were closed preventing sunlight from penetrating the room. It was the way he'd left it the day before. Keith walked over to it and opened the curtains to brighten the room a little. He looked out the window, observing the people through it. Some of them entering the hospital, others was just walking to other destinations, taking care of their life. These people were lucky, Keith thought. They had no idea of the suffering of the rest of the people who was in this hospital.

Keith turned and looked at Shiro. He carried the same expression from the day he was admitted to the hospital, for the last year. Since then, Shiro was in a deep coma and showed no sign that he would wake up anytime soon. All because of an incident on a mission. Keith always thought that Shiro trusted him enough to tell him what kind of mission he would have to do, and why he needed to go so far away from him, leaving him alone.

Keith shook his head.

No, he couldn't blame Shiro for this, it's was bound to happen if it was any other person who went to this mission. No, Keith blamed the Garrison Organization, the place that Shiro worked, they knew that this could happen and they sent Shiro anyway. Now Shiro was in a coma because of them. Keith once had a dream to be accepted on the Garrison as a pilot, but all that went away after the incident.

Dr. Coran had been taking care of Shiro ever since. He was still hopeful that Shiro would wake up. This type of coma was common to the accident that occurred to Shiro, he could still wake up for the next few months. Sometimes he would show signs of consciousness, sometimes it would happen for days straight, sometimes it wouldn't happen for months. But that was a good sign. That's all according to Dr. Coran. Keith didn't even know what to think. Since the accident, he was on autopilot, his mind wandered like he was underwater or in a dream he couldn't wake up.

Keith went to the chair that it was next to Shiro's bed, he could feel his body shaking. He put the backpack he carried on the floor beside the chair, and sat down. Keith took a deep breath, trying to calm down. His gaze returned to Shiro.

"Hey Shiro, how are you today?" he said, his voice at little shaking "Today was the same as it was yesterday, and how has been the days in for the last year. I hate school and everyone who goes in there, except for Pidge, I could never hate her… She says hi, by the way, she said she couldn't come today because she was busy doing a project for her Science class" Keith stopped and looked at Shiro's expression. He was the same. Keith sighed. "I still hate my teachers. I think that they want to get to my bad side on purpose. My history teacher tried to make do some kind of group work with three other kids in my class. I told her to piss off" Keith smirked when he remembered his teacher expression "She didn't sent me to the principal officer, but she tried to talk to me about 'what I was going through' and said that work in class project with my classmates would help me… That's bullshit, she doesn't know what she is talking about. No one of my classmates liked me, they would never understand me to the same way you did." Keith's voice faltered and he took another deep breath. He looked at his hair that it was still shaking "Romelle also tried to talk to me, she said to never give up hope"

Hope, he thought. That word left a bitter taste on his tongue.

"I don't think that I know what hope is anymore" Keith said, running his fingers through his hair "Hope won't make you wake up" he looked at Shiro again "Please wake up Shiro" he whispered.

As always, there was no response from Shiro and Keith felt a tightness in his chest. He didn't know for how long he would have to endure this silence.

Keith kept talking to Shiro for long minutes. Talking to Shiro left him with a sense of stability. Every minute of the day Keith thought he was getting more and more close to insanity, and the only person he could talk to was his brother. Then he would tell him about his day, about the people who Keith encounter, about what it was in his troubled mind, about what he hoped would happen, and his insecurities. Today was no different, he was starting to talk about his frustrations of Shiro's situation and how won't wake up soon, when Allura entered the room.

She was wearing a tired expression, but Keith could see a little of annoyance in her eyes. He noticed the bag under her eyes, and he wondered when was the last time that he saw Allura so tired. Allura noticed Keith sitting on his usual chair and smiled at him.

"Hey Keith, how are you?" she asked softly, starting to check the machines that it was attached to Shiro, and wrote down on the clipboard that she carried in her arms.

"I'm… fine" he said. Allura gave him a sharp look, knowing that Keith was lying, and he sighed "You know what I mean" he shrugged watching her movements.

"I believe I don't" she said, her accent showing up. She was finishing checking the machines and started to check the I.V that it was connected to Shiro's right arm.

Keith chuckled at her sentence.

"Yeah…" Keith rubbed his eyes "What about you, Allura? You look more tired today than lately". He said looking at the woman who now let her expression soften. Allura looked like she had aged over twenty years.

She waved her hand at a sign to him that said "it's nothing". Keith raised his eyebrows and Allura sighed.

"It's nothing that I never done before" she started saying, now checking Shiro's vital signs on the monitor next to the bed "I have been in the hospital since 10 p.m. the night of the previous day, and I have been called to accompany a new patient who will have to be hospitalized here for an undetermined time. I'm with him, his family and Dr. Coran, following his exams since then" she explained to Keith.

"Oh?" Keith crossed his arms trying to understand. It was like she said, nothing that she had not done before, but that didn't explain why she looked so tired. Even her beautiful silver hair that who was always tied perfectly in her hair seemed a little messy.

"It's just… the new patient, he it's just a little… inquisitive."

"Inquisitive?" Keith frowned.

"Yes!" she said and then turned to Keith and started pacing back and forth. Keith tried to hold a laughed. He never saw Allura like this before "He talks a little too much and flirted with me the whole day I was in his company!" she said as she gestured with her hands." I could even understand why he acted like this because of his situation, I thought it was just his way to deal with it, but he did not stop until I asked deliciously. He even flirted with the other nurse who accompanied him for an exam!" Allura paused to take a breath and looked at Keith as if she is about to tell a secret that was going to change the world. "When I left, he shot me finger guns" she whispered, with wide eyes.

"Finger guns?" Keith giggled, with his hand on his mouth.

"Yes! _The disrespect_!"

Keith couldn't help himself and started to laugh. Allura looked at him slightly offended, but then laughed along with Keith, their laughter echoing down the hall. The tension Keith felt relieved a little, and he let out a content sigh. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed like that.

"I could use a break" Allura said with a little smile "Come with me to the cafeteria and we can continue chat without disturbing the other patients on this floor with our laughter."

Keith hesitated a little. He was afraid that if he left now, the Shiro could wake up. He looked at Shiro who continued to sleep soundly.

"You also need a little of distraction Keith" Allura said, her voice was gently "He will be fine. Besides, if anything happen, I will be the first to know"

Keith looked back at Allura who smiled and reached out for him. He looked back at Shiro, and with a sigh he got up.

For the next thirty minutes, he was with Allura in the cafeteria. They ordered a sandwich, and Allura also ordered a coffee. Keith knew that coffee was one of the few drinks that Allura didn't enjoy much, but she confessed to him that this was the only drink that could keep her awake for the rest of her shift until she could go home and rest. They talked about anything, avoiding talking about the hospital and everything else that Keith didn't want to talk in the moment. He appreciated Allura for understanding. She tried to make Keith laugh, talking a little more about the new patient who was getting on her nerves and Keith could laugh easily. The people around them sometimes looked at the strange pair when Allura said something that one of her patients said to her and Keith laughed at little too loud. But he didn't care Allura has always been a good friend, and a great nurse. He looked when someone familiar was sitting on the table next to them and looked at his direction when he laughed.

They frowned and Keith looked away.

When the thirty minutes passed, Allura said goodbye to him with a promise that she will rest soon and that she would see him again tomorrow. Keith felt a little lighter as he left the cafeteria, holding a pack of muffins and handed it to Romelle who was still working at the reception desk. She looked surprised at the pack in front of her, and looked at Keith, with a silent question clearly in her expression.

"Thank you" he said, feeling at little uncomfortable "For trying to talk to me. I know you only wanted to help"

Romelle accept the muffins and smiled at him.

"You're so kind Keith" she said, laughing at little when she took one muffin of the pack and took a bite "I was really hungry, my break is only in 20 minutes"

"It's nothing" he shrugged, feeling the tip of his ears burn, now feeling at little embarrassed.

Keith turned to leave when Romelle's voice called him back.

"I'm sorry Keith, but can you do me a favor?" she asked at little uneasy.

"Sure"

Romelle rummaged in something on the reception counter and handed him a package.

"Can you deliver this to the patient in the room 507? One of his friends was here but couldn't stay, so she asked me to deliver it. Since I can't get out of here, and I didn't want to disturb his family that is finally resting in the break room, you are the only option, since you are on the way to the fifth floor." she said in a rush.

Keith looked at the package that was now in his hands. He didn't feel comfortable talking to someone he didn't know, but he didn't want to bother the family. God knows what they must be going through right now.

"Ok" he said and Romelle sighed in relief.

"Thank you Keith, you are a life savior" she smiled at him and returned to her work, while eating her muffins.

* * *

Keith walked through the fifth floor, feeling a little nervous. He stopped in front of the door of room 507, rising his hand to knock, but hesitated. What was he going to say? Would he just come in and deliver the package and leave? That would be a little rude, but Keith didn't want to stay or talk at all.

Taking a deep breath, Keith knocked.

"OH MY GOD, please I don't want another nurse coming in just to fill my delicate body with holes, drawing half a liter of my blood and leaving." said the voice inside the room "You can go!"

Keith raised his eyebrow.

"It's not a nurse" he said, a shaking his head. Why did he agree with this again?

"Oh" said the voice "Come in"

Keith rolled his eyes before entering the room. The 507 patient's room was exactly the same as Shiro's except for the patient and the room full of flower and colored balloons tied at the head of the bed.

"Who are you?" asked the boy in bed.

Keith walked a little closer to the bed, now having a vision of the boy. He looked that he had the same age as Keith. He had a light dark skin, as if he went to the beach every single day, brown hair framing his face and curling at the tips and freckles that spread across his nose and cheeks. But what caught Keith's attention were his deep blue eyes. Keith never saw eyes so blue before. Keith thought that he was kinda cute.

Keith didn't realize he was staring when the boy spoke to him again, drawing his attention. Embarrassingly, Keith reached out to show the package.

"T-This is for you" he said walking to the bed and delivered the package to the boy, feeling his face getting hot of embarrassment "Someone left with the receptionist and she asked me to deliver to you."

"Oh thank you…?" he said making a puzzle expression at Keith.

Keith frowned. He didn't understand what the boy wanted for him, he just wanted to leave and go to Shiro's room, and stay in there until another nurse make him go home.

The boy made a sound and pointed to Keith.

"Me?" he asked confused.

"Yes, _you!_ " the cute boy answered, impatience clearly in his voice. Keith crossed his arms and glared at him.

"That doesn't matter, I only came here to deliver this for you, and now I'm going" he said, pointing ate the door.

Keith turned to leave and heard the boy making an offended sound. When he was already near the door he heard the boy calling him again.

"Wait! I know you, don't I?" he said, looking at Keith as if he just realized something important.

"No…?" Keith said.

The boy seemed to stop to think, closing his eyes and folding his arms for a moment. Keith looked at him in confusion, and was about to leave when the boy spoke again.

"Yes! I've seen this mullet before!" he said now pointed at Keith's hair "You don't fool me mullet boy!"

"I don't have time for this" Keith sighed turning around again to leave.

"WAIT" the blue eyes cute boy said again, trying to get up but gave up, remembering the I.V it was attached to his arm "You seriously don't remember me?" he asked, a little voice transcending in his voice.

"No" Keith answered.

"That's fucking rude, buddy!"

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and when the other boy opened his month to talk again, Keith left the room, feeling at little strange.

"Weird" he muttered and went to Shiro's room to stay in there until he left that hateful place again.


	2. a very strange enchanted boy

"Lance is asking for you"

Keith diverted his eyes from his history book to look at Allura, who is at the door of Shiro's room, holding her clipboard and looking at Keith. When their eyes met, she raised her eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, what?" Keith asked, confused.

Allura sighed and entered the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the wall, rubbed her tired eyes and turned to look at Keith again, who was still confused with what she just said. Why is someone asking for him? He didn't know anyone in this hospital besides Allura, Romelle, Dr. Coran and a couple of nurses who took care of Shiro when Allura wasn't around or occupied with another patient.

"Lance is asking for you" she repeated and then glared at Keith.

"Yeah, I heard that" Keith said, rolling his eyes "But I don't understand"

Allura frowned, giving one of her famous are-you-kidding-me face making Keith cringe in his chair. Allura could be terrifying when she wanted to.

"What is it that you do not understand?" she asked, her tone of voice demonstrating that she had neither the patience or the time to be having this conversation with Keith.

"How is someone asking for me? I don't work here and I spend most of my time hiding here to be stuck around making conversation with people" he said annoyed, trying to explain and to understand. But he also didn't want to have this conversation. And by the way, who the hell is this Lance?

"Well, I don't as well" Allura said, raising both of her arms in frustration, almost knocking over her clipboard. She straightened the clipboard in her arms, and pointed at Keith. "But, he wants to see you… he _demands_ , actually"

Keith raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure it's me?" he asked, crossing his arms "Couldn't have been somebody else with the same name? Keith it's a fairly common name if you search correctly."

"No, it's really you. I'm sure of it" she said, now her voice in an amused tone

"How are you so sure?"

"For once, Lance keeps saying that he wanted to talk to the 'mullet boy'" Allura explained, a little grin on her lips when she saw Keith's expression "And I only know one person who has this hairstyle" she paused and looked at Keith, now a wild smile on her lips "It's you"

Oh.

 _Oh._

So, the name of the cute patient from the room 507, that he went to deliver that package yesterday, it's Lance. Keith remembered his face when he said that he didn't know him, it was like he was hurt, and Keith didn't know why. He should never want to speak with Keith again, but now he was asking for him.

"Why?" Keith asked.

"What?"

"Why is he asking for me? I don't know him at all, but apparently he knows _me_ and it looked that I hurt his feelings when I said that I didn't know him, because I'm pretty sure he might have cried when I left his room yesterday" He said, frustrated with this whole situation.

Allura looked at him with a strange expression, making Keith feel as if she had been scanning his brain.

"You went to see him yesterday?" she asked, her tone a little harsh.

"Y-Yes? I mean…" Keith paused, licking his dry lips "Romelle asked me to deliver a package for him because one of his friends left there, and she didn't want to disturb his family." He explained "Since that I was heading to the fifth floor, she asked me to do this favor and I ended up meeting him"

Allura stared at him for a few seconds and then sighed. She turned around and started walking towards the door. Keith watched her open the door before turning to speak to him.

"Talk to him" she just said and then left, closing the door behind her, leaving Keith only with his thoughts disturbing his mind.

* * *

Keith didn't go talk to Lance.

In fact Keith spent a good amount of time in Shiro's room, stuck in his thoughts, the history book he was reading, forgotten at the small corner table. He debated whether to go talk to Lance or not. Why should he go? He didn't know Lance, and just thinking about trying to talk to someone else, his anxiety would begin to appear.

 _"You should at least apologize for being rude yesterday,"_ his conscience said.

Keith shook his head. No, he wasn't going to talk to Lance, even if for some reason he felt guilty for potentially hurting his feelings (even though that hadn't been his intention because, again, he _didn't_ know Lance at all, even that he seems to know him somehow)

Sighing, Keith checked the hours on his wrist watch and was surprised that it was getting late, and the visiting hour was already running out. He picked up his history book, put it in his backpack, and took the backpack, resting it on his left shoulder. He looked at Shiro who was still in his deep sleep, and felt the tightness in his chest.

"I'm going, Shiro" he told his brother. "Tomorrow I'll show up a little late. I'm in detention for two days." He rolled his eyes.

Keith was halfway out of the room when he stopped and looked back at Shiro.

"Please wake up soon" he murmured.

Keith made his way down the hallway when he noticed the door to Lance's room open. The voices from inside the room echoed down the hall, and he recognized Dr. Coran's voice between them. After Dr. Coran had finished speaking, Lance's voice joined, and he seemed... nervous? Anxious? Keith couldn't understand what they were talking about and the curiosity inside him surfaced and without him noticing, his legs started to move and he was only a few centimeters near the Lance's room door. He couldn't see much, but he recognized the tall figure of Dr. Coran. He saw Lance on the bed, with two other people standing closer to his bed.

"... and this is supposed to make me better?" asked Lance's voice.

"Precisely," Dr. Coran replied. "It's the best treatment right now so you can get better"

"But, I'm going to have to feel like crap during this whole time? With the side effects, I literally feel like I'm slowly dying." he said, in a joking tone, but for some reason, Keith felt he was saying the truth and that seemed to scare Lance.

"You're not dying, Lance!" said a familiar voice in a tearful tone. He was closer to Lance and was holding his hand.

Lance chuckled.

"Not yet, Hunk" he said, his voice breaking.

Keith heard Dr. Coran speak again in an optimistic tone and two other voices (Hunk and a female voice he didn't know) joined in the conversation, talking about how Lance's treatment will occur for the next few weeks. Lance looked extremely quiet. Keith was beginning to consider spying on the room when he noticed that Lance was looking at him. Keith's eyes widened, his face burning with embarrassment. Lance gave him a small smile, and Keith could feel that his face was growing redder. Without thinking twice, Keith ran to the end of the hallway, pressing the elevator button quickly, too many times. As the elevator opened the doors, Keith entered and sighed in relief as the doors closed.

Keith leaned against the wall of the elevator, and brought his hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat quickly against the palm of his hand.

What was that?

"I can't believe you got detention again," Pidge said, her eyes fully focused on the game in front of her.

Keith rolled his eyes.

Every Wednesday, he and Pidge had a movie night followed by a round of video games. It was a kind of tradition that started years ago when he first met Pidge. Shiro and Pidge's father worked together on Garrison, and one day Sam Holt invited them both for dinner at his house. First Keith didn't want to go because he doesn't like meet new people but after Shiro insisted they went and that is when he met Katie Holt or Pidge as how she liked to be called. She was a little different from the others that Keith has met, but she always exuded intelligence. She was always sincere and she wasn't afraid to speak her opinion on any subject.

That night the two of them (mostly Pidge) talked about computers, new types of technology, games and movies. Since then, Pidge had invited Keith to her house every Wednesday where they watched a different movie. One week Keith chose the movie and Pidge chose the game, in the other it was Pidge's turn to choose the movie and Keith the game. They formed a bond and Keith always saw Pidge as his younger sister. She was part of his family, along with Shiro and the rest of the Holts.

"It's not like I go to school looking for a fight with anyone or something." Keith rolled his eyes as he pressed the joystick buttons repeatedly.

"That's very rich coming from you" Pidge said and Keith groaned. "But seriously, what did you do this time to get detention?"

Keith was quiet for a while, focused entirely on the game that Pidge began to wonder if he had heard her question. She was about to ask again, when Keith decided to speak.

"Something about me not paying attention in class and drawing in my notebook" he replied, his voice low.

Keith was never a drawer, but he had always had an interest in art, and art classes were his favorite subject at school. Once Shiro caught him drawing in his notebook and was impressed by Keith's talent, and encouraged the lanky boy to take art classes. Keith never seriously thought about it because he never thought that his arts were that great, until the accident happen. When the new school year began, he enrolled in arts classes. It was the only subject he really enjoyed in school. He had bought a sketchbook, and on weekends he would always go somewhere new and draw, with a promising that he would show Shiro as soon as he woke up.

If he wakes up.

Pidge looked quickly to look at Keith. She studied his face for a while, then sighed. He never told Pidge directly about the arts classes, but he suspected she that knew about it.

"Only you to get a detention for lack of attention." She shook her head.

Keith shrugged.

"It's not my fault that my teachers seem to hate me" he muttered.

They were silent for a while, only the sound of buttons being pressed and the music of the game to keep company. After a while playing Pidge declared victory, getting up off the ground and jumping, a wild grin on her face and pointing deviously at Keith.

"Dude, I can't believe I finally beat you this time" she said, throwing a pillow in Keith's face.

"Pure luck" he replied, tossing the cushion back at Pidge, which she swerved easily.

Keith stretched his arms before leaning against Pidge's bed. He watched Pidge's small figure walk through her room before heading out to the kitchen to make popcorn for them. Keith settled on the floor and closed his eyes, listening to the familiar noise of the Holts' house. He could hear Colleen Holt talking to someone on the phone, could hear Sam Holt talking to Pidge in the kitchen and then the voice of Matt Holt, Pidge's older brother, joining the conversation.

Keith always felt comfortable and at home in the Holt's house.

Pidge returned to the room, holding a bucket of popcorn and two cans of soda, accompanied by Matt, with a completely bored face.

Keith accepted the can Pidge was offering, and turned to Matt who sat next to him.

"I thought you had a date today," he asked, taking a sip of the soda.

Matt sighed, hiding his face in his hands.

"I don't want talk about it" he whined.

"She stood him up" Pidge answered for Matt, laughing.

Matt lifted his head and turned to look at Pidge, an indignant look on his face.

"Pidge!" he said, his face totally red "You don't have to spread it to everyone!"

"Relax, big brother, I'm sure she is going to go out with you in another other day," Pidge teased "Someday"

Matt groaned and Keith chuckled.

The two continued to bickering for some time while Keith continued to take sips of his soda and watched the two siblings with a small smile on his lips.

"Hey, how's Shiro doing?" Matt asked after Pidge took the pillow that she had previously thrown at Keith, and threw it at her brother's unprepared face. "I wanted to visit him, but I was busy doing some stuff for the Garrison"

"He's still the same," Keith replied, feeling his throat dry at the mention of the Garrison. He coughed a little, and took another sip of his soda. "He still hasn't woken up from the coma, and it doesn't look like he'll wake up anytime soon..." he added, his voice fading.

"I'm sorry Keith," he said, voice gently, placing a hand on his shoulder for support. "I'm sure he'll wake up soon"

"It's not what it looks like," Keith whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing"

After this little conversation, they kept silent while Pidge put the movie on so they could watch. The movie began and Keith's mind began to wander.

Everyone told him to not give up on Shiro, that he would wake up soon, but how can they be so sure? Even Dr. Coran wasn't sure when Shiro would wake up. It had been almost a year since the accident and months since the last time Shiro had shown signs of consciousness and he didn't look like he was going to wake up. Keith wanted to believe, he really wanted to think that one day he would go to the hospital and find Shiro sitting up in bed, awake and waiting for him. He wanted to believe it, but it was getting harder every day to go to the hospital and find him lying on the bed, in a deep coma.

Keith could feel his eyes fill with tears. He wouldn't cry again, he would lock all those feelings deep down and he'd never allow himself to feel this way anymore. He hated it.

Keith shook his head and tried to clear his mind and think of something else.

…

 _"Lance is asking for you"_

Keith gasped in surprised.

Why is Keith thinking about that? He had already made up his mind that he would not visit Lance, especially after he caught him spying on his private conversation with Dr. Coran.

Why was he thinking about Lance?

What happened to Lance that he ended up hospitalized and having to do some kind of treatment that left him feeling like crap and making jokes about death? Is he dying somehow and this treatment is his only option to make him better?

…

Keith mentally slapped himself.

Why is he so curious about Lance?

Sure he still wanted to know how Lance knew him, and why he wanted to speak to him, but Keith didn't want to get to know Lance. He is not the kind of person who makes friends easily. People tend not to like it, and Keith stopped trying and eventually to care. Besides Shiro, the Holt's siblings and Allura was his only friends.

He is not interested in making more.

* * *

"You're late today, did anything happen?" Romelle asked Keith when she handed his visitor badge.

Keith shrugged.

"Nothing much, I had to do some things in school today, I ended up losing the track of time" he said, adjusting the badge on his shirt.

Romelle was silent for a while, looking suspiciously at Keith, when suddenly her eyes widened in realization and she smirked.

"Let me guess, you've got detention again?" she teased, crossing her arms. "How many days you've got this time?"

Keith groaned.

"Don't' you have a job to do?" he said annoyed.

"Oh, but how many times since I met you, you had detention? Only this month was ten detentions" she continued.

"Bye, Romelle" Keith said, stepping away from her. As he walked toward the elevators, he could hear her laugh reverberate through the hallway.

Keith made his way down the fifth floor, toward Shiro's room. He noticed that the door to Lance's room was open again and the familiar voices of Allura and Lance came from her. He hurried down the hall, and was about to enter Shiro's room when he heard Lance call him and he froze.

"Hey, mullet boy, I know it was you who just walked down the hallway," he called out. "I thought that I had asked for you to talk to me yesterday but-

Lance's voice was abruptly cut off, and Keith suspected that Allura was scolding him for making noise and disturbing the peace of the other patients who were resting on that floor.

Keith breathed a sigh of relief and quickly entered the room, taking his place in the chair next to Shiro's bed. He started talking about his day to Shiro, as he did every day until he found himself talking about Lance to Shiro.

"... and I don' know why suddenly he is so obsessed with me" said in frustration "just because he knew me from somewhere and because I did Romelle a favor and I deliver a package for him two days ago, but he keeps trying to talk to me!"

Keith ran a hand through his messy hair.

"And I can even say he's cute and have a nice face and a beautiful blue eyes, but I'm not interested ... in talking to him"

He frowned.

"Why is so interesting in me that he is insisting to talk to me?" he asked in a low tone. He knew that he was asking more to himself than to Shiro. Keith sighed "It's not that you can answer that to me…"

Keith remained silent, lost in his thoughts, when the door was opened, and Allura entered the room, with a look of utter irritation. She folded her arms, and cast Keith a sharp look.

"I thought I asked you to talk to Lance yesterday" she said.

Keith raised his eyebrow.

"Why should I go?" he asked "Allura I don't even know him, why is he so obsessed in talk to me?"

"I do not know, but he keeps bothering me and asking you haven't seen him yet, and he is also bothering the others nurses, asking where are you, and my patience it's running low" she paused and walked towards him "So please, just go see him"

"Allura…"

"Now, Keith" Allura sighed closing her eyes and rubbed her forehead. She looked like she was having a bad headache. She opened her eyes and looked at Keith, who is still trying to fight her, but he knew that it was useless "Please"

They looked at one another for a few seconds before Keith rose from his chair in defeat.

"Fine, I go"

"Thank you" Allura said, relieved "I will check Shiro and keep an eye on him for you"

Keith nodded and left the room.

It took him a while to get into Lance's room, wondering what the hell he was going to do now. He had no idea what Lance wanted to talk to him about.

Keith looked at the closed bedroom door, feeling nervous, and knocked on the door.

"Come in, mullet" Lance responded and Keith felt his nerves being replaced by irritation.

Keith opened the door and marched inside, and was greeting by Lance with a wild smile on his face.

"Finally you decided to show up" Lance teased "Because of you, I made Allura really angry, but I can't say that it wasn't worth it, because I would be lying" he said gesturing to Keith and laughed "But hey! Here you are!"

Keith remained silent and Lance pursed his lips.

"Did you lost your hearing or somehow you're mullet's evil twin-

"Why?" Keith suddenly asked

"W-What?" Lanced looked at him, confused.

"Why are you so determined in to talk to me?" Keith asked his frustration showing in his voice "Why?"

Lance shrugged.

"Why not?"

" _Why not?_ "

Lance smiled.

"Seriously, why are you make a big deal out of this?" he asked, shaking his head in disapproval "It's that so bad that I want to talk to you, mullet?"

"Don't"

Lanced frowned.

"What?"

Keith sighed, and ran a hand over his face, still frustrated with the situation.

"Don't call me mullet" he said, looking at Lance.

"So, what do I call you?"

Keith ignored Lance, and walked and walked closer to his bed. The balloons that had once been strapped to the head of Lance's bed were no longer there, but the flowers were still decorating the room. It looked like new ones were added around the room. Keith turned his gaze to Lance, and it was then that he noticed that the boy looked pale, and had purple bags under his eyes.

Was this the effect of his treatment?

Was he okay?

"What do you want talk to me?" Keith asked, looking away from Lance.

Lance shrugged.

"I just wanted to talk to anyone" Lance confessed, sheepishly looking at little embarrassed.

"But why me?" Keith insisted "Why not your friend, or your family, or Allura?"

Lance chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure Allura is sick of me" he said "Hunk, my friend, is always kinda busy after school, so he can't come all the time. And my family…" Lance paused, taking a deep breath "It's nice to be around them, but they are here all the time, and I just want them to rest, and they only wanted to talk about my 'condition'" he grimaced "So I'm kinda alone here, and for the past three days that I've being here, I was saw you around so…"

"So you expected to talk to me" Keith completed.

"Yes" Lance said, and weak smiled on his lips. He was looking at his hands and he looked nervous.

Keith started to feel a little guilty. He could understand Lance's situation, he just wanted someone to talk about anything and Keith was the only viable option that Lance could find.

"It's Keith"

Lance turned to look at Keith, a question on his eyes.

"My name" he explained "It's Keith"

"Oh" Lance's expression changed completely "Nice to meet you, I'm Lance" he giggled, and held out his hand to Keith.

Keith walked closer towards Lance, and took his hand. His hand was cold and little sweaty, and he felt that Lance was shaking at little.

"I already know your name" Keith said.

Lance looked surprised.

"How?"

"Allura"

Lance laughed and Keith felt something warm on his chest of the sound of it. He bit his lip, trying to hold a smile.

Someone knocked on the door, and entered. Keith turned around to see a woman who looked quite like Lance entering the room. She just seemed to be a few years older than him, but she had exactly the same mackerel, but her eyes were much brighter blue than Lance's.

"Lance, I brought you…" she stopped in her tracks when she saw Keith standing next to Lance's bed. "Oh, I didn't knew you have company." She said to Lance, but her eyes were on Keith.

"It's ok Veronica" Lance said, in a cheerful tone "This is Keith"

"Hi, I'm Veronica, his big sister" Veronica said, a large smile on her lips "Nice to meet you"

Keith felt a little embarrassed over Veronica's gaze at him.

"You too" he said.

"So, are you one of Lance's friends?" she asked and then smirked "Or are you his secret boyfriend?" Veronica asked maliciously.

"I-I'm not!" Keith said, his face turning a bright red.

Lance giggled and Keith turned to see him, with a hand on his lips. Keith glared at him, and the boy only shrugged, a giggled escaping his lips.

"I should go back to my brother" Keith said, still glaring at Lance and then turned around to face Veronica "He is a room here too"

Veronica's teased expression change for a comprehensive, and nodded.

"Yes, sure. Don't let us keep you" she said, gently.

Keith was about to leave the Lance's room, when Lance called him back.

"See you tomorrow!" he said.

Keith turned to see Lance, who looked at little uneasy. Keith knew that he was asking him to come back, and wasn't sure if Keith would. But after the conversation they had minutes ago, Keith felt at little reluctant in deny.

"Sure" Keith said.

Lance smiled, and Keith felt that his smiled could light up the entire floor

That night, when he was in his room, Keith drew Lance on his sketchbook, using a blue pen that looked exactly as the blue of Lance's eyes. His smile brighter than the sun and the starts.

Keith smiled.

He could be interested.


	3. they said he wandered very far

Keith could admit that he has become very close to Lance in the last few days.

He decided to keep his promise, and every day when Keith went to the hospital to visit Shiro, he spent a few hours of the day with Lance, when he wasn't with visitors or with Dr. Coran, or doing some medical examination to monitor his health.

During these last few days that he visited Lance, Keith met a good part of Lance's family. Lance's mother was always at his bedside when she could. She always looked tired, as if she hadn't been sleeping for a whole month - she might as well hadn't - but she kept smiling, despite everything, supporting her son. Lance's older brother, Luis, always showed up at the end of the night, with an increasingly bizarre story of his day to tell to Lance, who despite questioning the truth of his brother's stories, he always laughed. Veronica was always present to take care of her mother, forcing her to eat or to rest, and her brother, keeping company and teasing him, telling Keith stories of when she and Lance were kids. Keith also discovered that Lance had one younger sister and two nephews who were in Cuba.

Keith also met Lance's best friend, Hunk. For some reason he looked familiar, and he had an intuition that Hunk recognized him as well, but he haven't say anything. Hunk was a good-hearted person, and Keith could tell he was suffering from the situation as much as Lance's family is.

Keith hadn't yet figured out why Lance was hospitalized. He sometimes tried to get into the subject, but Lance always seemed vulnerable to talking about anything that would indicate why he was there, so Keith didn't press him to speak, but Lance wasn't look well. Apparently Lance looked fine, but Keith was a very observant person, and he began to notice a few things about Lance. There are days when he could be smiling, and if you asked him, Lance would say he was fine, but the truth was the opposite. Keith realized that even with a smile on his lips, it couldn't reach his eyes. In this scenario, Lance would look pale, and his hair would be stuck to his face from the sweat. On these days, Keith always tried to distract Lance, even though the boy felt ashamed to ask for his help or to publicize his state of health. Once Keith had to call Allura, even with Lance's protests, because Lance was starting to look weaker at every second.

He was beginning to worry.

* * *

"Hey Keith," a voice called and Keith stopped at his tracks, turning around.

Pidge was running toward him, her backpack hanging over her shoulders, and she waving at him. He opened at little smile at his friend, and waved back, while waiting for her.

"Thank god... I... found you," Pidge gasped as he reached Keith. She tried to catch her breath while Keith looked curiously at her. "You know how it's hard to find you and your mullet in this big fucking school? I'm too small Keith!" she complained as she managed to breathe normally and Keith chuckled at her words "Anyway, Matt and I are planning on visiting Shiro today," she announced, now with a smile spreading across her lips.

"Really?" Keith said surprised "I thought Matt was always busy half of the day at the Garrison" he continued, the word 'Garrison' leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

"He got a free time today," Pidge explained "We can go to my house and pick up Matt and then we can go straight to the hospital, what do you think?" she said, sounding a little excited at the idea.

"Y-Yeah, let's go" Keith replied. "I'm sure Shiro would like that"

The two of them walked to the next bus station and waited for the bus to arrive, as they talked about how the school is too big and the teachers absolutely hated them both. Normally, Keith went to school with his motorcycle, and Pidge would take the bus, since she thought that they'd both die if she went with Keith, because "he goes too fast". But since the accident, Keith went with Pidge and after school, walked at the hospital, would take the bus after leave the hospital.

It wasn't long before the bus arrived, and the two of them entered, paying for their tickets and sitting at the back of the bus, away from everyone else. The trip to the apartment block where they lived wasn't too long, and in less than fifteen minutes they arrived.

Keith was so glad that Pidge lived near him. He remember when Pidge told him that they were going to move from their little house to a big apartment in the same building Shiro and Keith lived.

They entered the building, and Pidge ran quickly to the elevator doors, pressing the button several times. Keith quick his eyebrows when he reached her, with an amused expression and Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.

"Pidge" Keith called, approaching the impatient girl, and held her wrist "You're going to break the elevator button"

"I don't care, I want to go to the bathroom, and this elevator its sooo fucking slow" she complained.

"Breaking the elevator button won't do much good and it won't help you" Keith told Pidge who just huffed, and crossed her arms.

They stood for a minute waiting for the elevator, the pounding of Pidge's impatient foot getting louder and faster as the elevator doors opened, and Pidge ran inside, shouting "finally".

After the wait - according to Pidge, it was the longest two minutes of her life - they made their way to the floor where Pidge's apartment was. Pidge walked quickly to the door and tried to open it, fumbling with the keys and cursing at the hurried breathing. As soon as she opened the door, she ran into the apartment, disappearing into the hallway, leaving Keith alone.

Keith chuckled and entered the apartment, closing the door behind him. He walked straight to the couch, and sit down, waiting for Pidge or Matt show up. A few minutes passed, Keith was checking the hours on his phone, when Pidge appeared, a relieved expression on her face, accompanied by Matt who had messy hair and clothes all crumpled, looking like he had just woken up from a long night of sleep.

"Look who I found lying on the kitchen table" Pidge said, pointing to Matt, who was rubbing his eyes and sat next to Keith on the couch.

"Sleeping on the kitchen table, that's a new one" Keith teased making Pidge laugh, and Matt groaned at them.

"I was tired, and waiting for you guys" he said, pouting.

"Whatever you say, big brother" Pidge said, walking at their direction when she stopped, making a confused expression "Wait, where is mom and dad?" asked, looking at Matt.

"They went out" he shrugged "Mom wanted to shop at the grocery store, and dad took her" he explained.

"Oh" Pidge consulted her wristwatch "we should go, I don't know if 'regular' visitors have the same time with the patient as the family member does"

"Allura would allow you two to stay with me in Shiro's room" Keith said, rolling his eyes.

"Of course she would, she is a gently soul, not unlike others" Matt said in an enthusiastic tone. He always spoke in that tone when the subject of the conversation was Allura.

"Are you still obsessed with Allura?" Pidge spoke out, annoyed "Dude, just move on, Allura it's not into you"

Matt gasped.

"How dare you crush my little heart, little sis" he said, pretending to be outraged. He got up from the couch, and pointed to Pidge. "I'll go to the bathroom so I can wipe away the tears and collect the pieces of my heart that were broken by your wicked words, Katie" Matt said dramatically, pretending to wipe the fake tears and headed toward bathroom, leaving Pidge and Keith laughing at his antics.

"Wait until Shiro hears about the poems you wrote about Allura's "beautiful silver-silky hairs" Pidge shouted at Matt, and they heard Matt gasp even louder from the bathroom.

Keith entered the fifth floor, accompanied by Pidge and Matt, making their way to Shiro's room, talking quietly with the siblings, passing in front of the open door of Lance's room. Keith hesitated and then stopped, looking quickly inside the room, and saw Lance sitting in the bed, talking to whom seemed to be Hunk.

"Keith" Matt called and he looked away, almost missing the moment Lance's eyes widened and turned toward the door.

Flushing, Keith walked quickly to where Matt and Pidge were waiting for him, curious expression on his face.

"Don't" he said to the two, entering the room. The Holt siblings exchanged glances and decided to say nothing, accompanying the boy inside the room. But Keith knew they wouldn't forget.

They never let anything pass.

* * *

"What is your favorite color?" Lance asked.

After Matt and Pidge said goodbye to Keith and left the hospital - Keith promised to show up for dinner at the Holt's - he still stayed a few minutes in Shiro's room, feeling the nervousness spread through his body, making him a bit tense. He didn't understand why.

If we are being truthful, he actually understood.

The fact that he was about to visit Lance, made him nervous, uneasy, and his heartbeat a little faster than normal, made him stay in Shiro's room for a few more minutes, taking deep breaths to help him loose the temper.

But it didn't work.

When Keith entered Lance's room, he found the boy sitting on the bed, his arms crossed, pout, with an extremely irritated expression. He was looking like a child when he was refused candy before dinner. Lance looked at Keith, as if expecting something, and when Keith asked what was wrong, he accused Keith of being slow to appear.

"I've been waiting for you to show up all day," he would say, the accusatory tone of voice. "And when you and your mullet finally decide to show up, you ignore me and it takes almost a decade to come here!"

Keith didn't know how to answer.

After explained to Lance that his family was with him to visit his brother, Lance's posture dissolved, and his face took on a relieved expression. Keith took his place in the chair next to Lance's bed and they went into the normal routine, talking about anything, until Lance promoted a game between them.

"What kind of game?" Keith asked, interested.

"Game of 21 Questions" Lance explained "There are still things I don't know about you, and you about me, it's the best way to get to know each other better"

Keith seemed to consider. Maybe this is a great opportunity to ask Lance why he is hospitalized.

"Okay, it'll be cool" Keith accepted "Who's going first?"

"Red" Keith answered yours?"

"Blue"

"Favorite movie?"

"At the moment, Harry Potter"

"At the moment?" Keith cocked his head, confused.

"Yes, in case I change my mind"

Keith chuckled.

Spending time with Lance was proving that it was definitely better than being in the silence of Shiro's room, alone, with only his thoughts to torment him.

After deciding to visit Lance after spending time with the Shiro, Keith felt a bit lighter, the tightness in his chest that was always there when he walked into the hospital was gone, and he was leaving the hospital more relieved. Maybe this was the best decision he has made so far.

Talking with Lance helped him, but the pretty boy with beautiful blue eyes was a little harder to get to know. Every time Keith looked at Lance's face, he always had a smile on his lips that couldn't meet his eyes, and Keith knew Lance was more than he was demonstrating.

He's definitely not fine.

And Lance was _definitely_ a challenge for Keith. And he was willing to meet the real Lance.

"Why are you laughing?" Lance crossed his arms, pouting again. Keith rolled his eyes.

"How do you change your mind about your favorite movie?" Keith asked, amused.

"Very easy buddy," Lance explained. "Today I can really enjoy a movie, next week I can watch a new movie and like it a lot, so this movies ends up being my new favorite movie."

Keith looked at Lance, slightly indignant. Lance wouldn't stop surprising him.

"So you mean all the movies you've seen so far are your favorite?" Keith raised his eyebrow, the corner of his lips curving into a smile.

"Yes," Lance said quickly. "Ah... Not exactly...?"

"You're indecisive" Keith decided, a little proud.

He thought it was incredible that he could read Lance. He was like an open book, but some pages he still couldn't read as if he were in another language or as if the pages were blank. There was still a lot about Lance that intrigued Keith and he couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he was determined to know all the layers that Lance had.

But one thing that intrigue him the most. What Lance had that was keeping him in this hospital, and doing some sort of treatment that seemed to make him worse every day instead of helping him.

Keith wanted to know, but he was still questioning if he could ask something so personal to the cute guy with pretty blue eyes.

"I'm not indecisive!" Lance replied, looking slightly offended.

"You are!" Keith accused, giggling.

"And you're not funny" Lance pout.

Keith chuckled.

"Next question" he said, pocking Lance's arms, which were crossed in front of his chest.

Lance snorted, closing his eyes, thinking of something to ask Keith, while Keith waited anxiously.

"Hmm..." Lance bit his lip and suddenly all of Keith's attention went to Lance's rosy lips.

Keith felt his heartbeat grow a little faster.

"Favorite place to go?" Lance asked after a while and Keith had to look away, his cheeks slightly red.

"I don't specifically have a favorite place" he shrugged and then paused, thinking in his answer "...but if I have to pick one, I would choose the park near my old house"

"A park?" Lance asked, his eyes curious.

"Yes, it's a good place to go when I want to be alone with my thoughts," he began to explain, "and there's a beautiful view of the city," Keith paused, a small smile appearing on his lips "At night, the view of the park is extremely beautiful, and from there you can see all sorts of constellations, and the stars are so inspiring and give me such a beautiful sight that I can't stop drawing them... "Keith drifted, closing his eyes and remembering when he used to go to the park with his parents many years ago.

Keith was so distracted by his memories, that he forgot that Lance was present, being startled when the boy spoke.

"I didn't know you could draw" he said softly.

Keith was taken by surprise by the intensity of Lance's gaze on him, his face with a strange expression that Keith couldn't identify. Keith's throat was dry, and he was speechless. His heart was beating so fast, that Lance might actually hear it.

He _couldn't_ take his eyes off Lance's.

"Can I see your drawings?" He asked

Keith's eyes widened at the request.

"I-I don't have them here with me," he whispered. "I..."

Lance smiled, looking away. A small shade of pink spreading across his cheeks. Keith felt a little bewildered.

"It must be a beautiful place" he spoke again "Maybe one day I could go see it ..."

"Y-Yeah" Keith flushed "And about you?"

"Easy, for me it would be Varadero Beach, back at home," Lance replied, a smile on his lips.

Keith involuntarily smiled back. Lance had a contagious smile. And a contagious laugh.

"I've never been to a beach before," he revealed.

Lance gasped, looking quite offended.

"How have you never been to a beach?" he asked indignantly.

"I've never had a chance" shrugged.

"No wonder, you look like Snow White." Lance pointed at Keith, gesturing to the boy's skin.

"Hey! It's not my fault," Keith said defensively.

"Well, Mr. Snow White, as soon as I leave this hospital, I'm going to take, you and Hunk to Cuba with me and we're going to spend a whole week in Varadero Beach, and when we leave, you'll come back looking like a shrimp, of how red you're going to be" Lance promised.

Keith laughed.

"Are you sure you want my company?" he asked, feeling a little insecure.

"Of course I want your company, I haven't made that clear before?" Lance asked looking confused.

Keith shrugged, looking away. Lance was giving Keith _that_ look again, making him flushed. Apparently this was one of the other effects Lance had on him. Maybe he'll look like a shrimp long before Lance thought.

"What?" Lance asked

"N-Nothing," he replied quickly. He hadn't noticed that he had expressed his thoughts aloud. "It's my turn now" Keith said.

"Hit it" Lance gave him, a confident smile.

Keith thought of something to ask Lance when his mind reminded him of why he had accepted that game in first place. Maybe now would be the time for him to ask Lance what he wanted to know. But Keith wasn't sure that Lance would give him some kind of answer. He had every right to refuse to answer it to Keith.

Keith bit his lip.

He wanted to know.

He wanted to know how to help Lance.

He wanted to know, to understand Lance better.

"What kind of…" he started but when he looked away at Lance, the boy had suddenly gone pale. Keith frowned, worried. "Lance? Are you okay?"

Lance looked at him, and he started to tremble. Quickly Keith got to his feet and ran to Lance. His face was now getting a faint greenish color.

"Lance?" Keith called, starting to feel a little panic. "Lance?!"

Lance tried to speak, but no sound came from his mouth. Keith's panic began to increase and he didn't know what to do. Suddenly, he felt an icy hand grip his arm, and he looked, wide-eyed at Lance.

"Get Allura" Lance finally said, his voice weak "Please"

Keith nodded and started to leave the room quickly to call Allura and ask for help from her. He stopped when Lance called him again.

"Keith, please don't come back here today" he asked and Keith he felt a stab of pain in his heart, but he agreed.

Running to the elevator, he punched the button quickly. Now he knew how Pidge felt earlier when she wanted to go to the bathroom and the elevator had been slow to appear. The elevator doors opened, and he entered quickly, pressing the button of the first floor. He knew Allura was around there most of the time when she wasn't with other patients.

Keith waited impatiently for the elevator to come down, and jumped out quickly as the doors opened again. He ran down the hall looking for Allura when he saw the familiar figure of the nurse walking with her trusty clipboard in her arms.

"Allura!" he called, startling the friend who turned to him, her eyes wide and her hand on her chest.

"Keith!" she said, approaching the agitated boy "What are you doing here? You are not allowed on this floor"

"Lance," he said, exasperated. "Lance needs help."

Allura's posture changed quickly for her professional state and she started to walk down the hallway where Keith had come.

"Let's go," she said.

Keith accompanied Allura back to the fifth floor, his panic and nervousness still clingy on him. Allura stepped forward as they reached the fifth floor, and Keith followed her a few steps back. The nurse entered the room, and Keith stayed behind, listening to Allura talking quietly to Lance, and what seemed to be sounds of footsteps crawling around the room.

His heart was tight on his chest and he really wanted to enter the room and stand next to Lance, giving the boy his support.

He took a step closer but stopped when he remembered Lance's begging expression when he told Keith to not return to his room.

He wanted to come in.

But he didn't.


	4. over land and sea

Keith didn't return to visit Lance in the following days.

Maybe its bullshit, but he took Lance's words seriously, and decided he shouldn't bother Lance anymore. Maybe it would make him feel better, and just give Lance a space so he could recover from everything that happened. Maybe Lance felt a little embarrassed about what happened, even though Keith didn't saw everything that happened, but he saw Allura's expression as she left Lance's room as he waited outside, leaning against the wall of the hallway.

"Is everything alright with him? Is he going to be okay?" Keith asked as soon as he saw Allura.

She looked at Keith, a little surprised to find him there in the hallway.

"Keith!" She said with fascination. "I thought you were already gone from the hospital."

Keith ran his fingers through his hair, and turned his attention to the door of Lance's bedroom that was half-open. Through the crevice he could only see a small part of the room. Unfortunately the bedroom door concealed his view of Lance.

"How is he, Allura?! Keith asked worriedly.

Allura followed Keith's gaze, and sighed.

"It may not seem like it, but that's just an effect of his treatment," she said in a condescending tone, and taking notes from her faithful clipboard.

"How is this treatment helping him if every time I see him, Lance seems to be getting weaker?" He complained. "He looks worse and worse every day, Allura!"

"Keith," she said and Keith fell silent, acknowledging the firm note in her voice. "I understand you're worried about Lance's condition - believe, we all are - but the treatment he's getting is best for his condition, and in a few weeks will start to appear results of his improvement" Allura explained "Trust what I'm telling you"

Keith glanced again at Lance's bedroom door and slowly, he nodded.

"Alright," he said.

Allura watched Keith for a few seconds, leaving the boy a little uneasy over the load of her gaze.

"You really care about him, do not you?" She asked inquiringly.

Keith turned his gaze to the door of Lance's room, wondering how to answer Allura, even knowing what his answer was. Even if he considered lying, Allura would know he wasn't telling the truth.

"Yeah," he said in a low tone.

Allura's expression changed. She walked over to him and placed her hand on Keith's shoulder, a gesture she had done many months ago when Shiro had been hospitalized and Keith spent half of his time having anxiety attacks.

"He's going to be fine, Keith," she said softly. "Lance is strong and tough, I'm sure he's going to get out of it."

After his brief conversation with Allura in the hallway, Keith went back to Shiro's room to retrieve his backpack from the chair near the bed where Shiro was lying and walk away from the hospital, thinking of going back there after a few days away. He was feeling mentally tired, because now having to worry about Shiro, Lance came into his life, somehow managing to gain some space in his heart, and now Keith couldn't stop worrying about him.

"How can I stop coming to the hospital, Shiro?" He asked his brother, who was still unconscious in his bed. "If I fail to come one day and something happen to you? Or with Lance?" He said exasperated "How can I stop worrying for a few days?"

He watched Shiro, waiting for some kind of response. He watched as his breathing continued steady, just like the previous days, just as he was admitted to that hospital.

"You would probably say I need some time for myself, that if I go on as I am, it won't do any good." Keith let out a chuckle without a shade of joy, shaking his head. "I cannot do this, Shiro, I can't"

He rubbed his eyes, where the tears were trying to escape. He'd sworn to himself that he wasn't going to cry anymore, he needed to be strong.

Keith straightened his pack on his shoulders, and went toward the door, but stopped for a few seconds to look again at the figure of his brother lying unconscious on the bed.

"See you tomorrow, Shiro," he said, and left.

* * *

"Dude, you look terrible" was the first thing he heard when he opened the door to his apartment finding Pidge fully tidy with her backpack on.

Keith suppressed a yawn and rubbed his eyes, trying to disperse the still heavy sleep in his eyes. He blinked a few times to try to focus his vision on Pidge who was staring at him, a smile on her lips.

"What do you want, Pidge?" He asked a little irritably. He hadn't been able to sleep all night with his thoughts lost on Lance and how he was the last time Keith had seen him.

"Not a morning person, gee, I know," she said sarcastically.

Keith rolled his eyes and waved a hand at her, motioning for Pidge to continue.

"Remember when I told you that there's going to be a new game inspired by that 80's cartoon called Voltron?" She asked, but didn't wait for Keith's response and continued to talk "So, Game Stop had announced a few days ago that they were going to reveal a surprise related to Voltron today, and a few minutes ago they announced that they would sell 50 copies today when they opened the stores before the official release of the game, and that anyone who managed to buy those 50 copies would get a discount, plus an exclusive poster and a shopping card worth $ 700 and we have to be in line in front of the shop and be one of 50 buyers, "she continued to speak as she pulled Keith out of his apartment.

"Pidge, calm down," Keith said, steadying his feet to the ground, preventing the girl from walking. "It's five o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, do you really think there's going to be people waiting in this hour in front of the store?" He asked. running his hand through his messy hair, deciding to ignore why Pidge was up so early. Keith knew the girl very well and knew that she actually stayed up all night.

"Keith, dude, you have no idea how many people are waiting for the release of this game, aren't you?" She asked, clapping her foot impatiently. "Voltron is at the top of the list of most anticipated game releases of this year!" Pidge said exasperatedly "You can't imagine how many people would _kill_ to have the opportunity to buy this game before the official release!"

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Keith replied trying to calm the girl who looked like a ball of energy "Why didn't you call Matt to go with you?"

Pidge rolled his eyes.

"You know very well how Matt is in the morning, he doesn't wake up even if it's raining meteors outside" she said shaking her head and Keith nodded. "Dude, what are you waiting for?! Let's go!" She said agitatedly and pulling Keith by the arm again.

"Calm down," he said, getting rid of Pidge's small hands holding him tight. "Let me change my pajamas into some clothes and then we can go"

Pidge sighed and checked her wristwatch "Alright, but hurry the hell up, you have five minutes or I'll drag you out of here even if you were wearing just underpants!" She warned.

Keith chuckled and returned inside the apartment, accompanied by Pidge who waited for him, arms crossed and fingers drumming her arm, checking her watch every second. Keith changed into a comfortable outfit and quickly put on shoes, not wanting to let Pidge wait for him for too long, because he knew if he past the time she set for him, Pidge would drag him away just the way he was.

He left the room and found Pidge in the same place, checking her wristwatch.

"Finally!" She said as she stopped glancing at her watch. "One more minute and I was about to drag you out of your room," Pidge said walking out of the apartment.

Keith rolled his eyes. "I wasn't that long," he said, taking the keys to the apartment and closing the door behind him.

"Do you really want to discuss how long it takes you to fix your hair in the bathroom?" Pidge questioned as they walked to the elevator.

"It's not my fault my hair is rebellious!" Keith replied defensively.

"Sure," she said and began to press the elevator button compulsively.

"One of these days, you're going to break that button," Keith said, yawning.

"And one of these days, you're going to let that emo phase pass by and turn into a beautiful colorful butterfly that we know you are and is just waiting to spread your wings and fly away" Pidge replied back, still pushing the button until the the elevator doors opened and they entered.

"Okay, Game Stop is less than 30 minutes from here, if we went to the bus stop they were going to be at least a five minutes' walk, ten minutes waiting, and another thirteen minutes ride, costing at least ten people in front of us in the line, we could go with your motorcycle and get there in fifteen minutes, but I'm afraid that you'll kill us at the speed you drive that deadly machine and you haven't been on a motorcycle since the accident, so the best option for us is to get an Uber or cab," she said quickly as she picked up her phone and began typing furiously.

"Wow" Keith said impressed "You really want this game"

"Of course dude! I've been waiting for this game for a long time, since it was announced two years ago!" Pidge said in a tone of desperation.

"Your parents know that you went out hunting for Voltron at this time of the morning?" Keith asked looking at Pidge as she continued to type something on her phone.

"I left a note in the fridge" it was all that she said.

Pidge decided that it would be better to call an Uber, and when they arrived at the entrance of the building where they lived, Keith was surprised to find a parked car waiting for them. Pidge grabbed Keith's arm and pulled him into the car. They entered and Pidge quickly gave the address of the store and turned her attention to her phone. Keith searched for his in the pocket of his black hoodie, but found nothing, forgetting that in a hurry he forgot his phone on the shelf of his room.

"According to twitter there is already at least nine people waiting in the Game Stop" Pidge announced twelve minutes later that they were inside the car.

Keith raised his eyebrow and noticed that Pidge was talking to some group of messages on her phone. Probably other of her video-game-crazy friends who were going to wait in line for four hours until the store opened.

Keith turned his gaze to the car's window, watching as the dark streets and streetlights passed quickly as the car moved. He wondered if Lance was one of those people who would go and wait in a line for hours it opened it just to get a game. His thoughts drifted to Lance, lost in unanswered questions. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice when the car stopped.

"Keith! We're here!" Pidge said, pulling the sleeve of his coat, to get his attention.

Pidge pushed Keith out of the car and paid the driver. Keith looked surprised at the little commotion that was forming in front of Game Stop. He recognized two people from the school in front of the line.

"You weren't really joking," he said impressed.

"Come on, let's take our place in the line before anyone walks in front of us.

They walked quickly through the small crowd and reached the end of the line.

"Damn, there's seventeen people in front of us," she said, looking at the line that had been formed. "If the driver had been faster we could be a little further forward," she complained.

"At least we're here among the ones who got there before 50 people" Keith said as he leaned against the wall of the store. He regretted not having picked up his cell phone to entertain him while he waited in line with Pidge.

"Weak" Pidge snorted "I wish I had arrived first"

Keith laughed.

They waited for a few minutes when a familiar voice called Pidge and the girl jumped in surprise from her place in the line, almost dropping the phone she was holding. Keith turned and stared wide-eyed.

"Hunk! You made it! "Pidge said jumping up beside Keith.

"Yeah dude, I promised Lance I'd get a copy of that game."

Hunk smiled at Pidge and turned his eyes to Keith, who was staring at him. Of all places, this was the least likely that Keith thought he would find Lance's best friend. Or to know that somehow he knew Pidge.

"Hunk," Keith finally spoke, his tone surprised.

"Keith! I-I didn't know you'd be here...! "Hunk answered a little embarrassed.

"Wait," Pidge said, looking between Hunk and Keith. "You guys know each other? How?" She asked, turning her gaze to Keith, waiting for some explanation.

"Uh..." Keith started and felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. He hasn't told Pidge that he'd met Lance, and that somehow they'd become friends.

"Yeah, we uh, we met at the hospital," Hunk answered the question, casting a glance at Keith. "It was Lance that introduced us"

"Oh." Pidge looked back at Keith, who was now staring across the street, trying to avoid looking at the girl, but he could feel the weight of Pidge's gaze on him.

After that, Hunk and Pidge became involved in a conversation about the game, what to expect from the game, how much they would make it look like the cartoon or what the game's features and graphics should look like. Hours after the line was already taking up an entire street and the sun was already shining in the sky, Pidge announced that she was hungry, and Hunk pulled out of his backpack that he carried a Tupperware with homemade cookies and sandwiches while Pidge took juice boxes and distributed among the three. Keith hadn't realized that he was starving until he took a bite of the sandwich Hunk had given him. The three of them engaged in a random conversation as they ate, when a commotion took the start of the line and Pidge began to jump in her place to be able to see.

"I think the store is going to open!" Pidge said excitedly as she continued to jump. "We're going to get a copy of Voltron before everyone else!"

"I can't wait for it dude! Lance will be so happy when I gave a copy to him! I hate to see him in a bad mood" Hunk said as he jumped along with Pidge screaming with excitement.

Keith looked at Hunk in surprise. What's going on with Lance that might have made him in a bad mood? He turned to ask Hunk, when suddenly the line was moving and Pidge grabbed his arm and Hunk's and began to drag the two of them into the crowd of people.

He felt something heavy in his stomach. Keith couldn't get the bad feeling that whatever was happening to Lance, it was his fault.

After being dragged into the store, Pidge and Hunk ran into a store session that they were sure the game would be, and Keith lost sight of them. Before she disappeared, Pidge asked Keith to wait at the payment counter, and that was where he was. Keith leaned into the corner, watching people rush into the shop desperate for Voltron's copy, and Keith wondered what it would be like if Lance were there. Would he run desperately into the store? Would he make Keith go with him or wait at the counter with Keith?

Keith shook his head. Whatever the answer, maybe he would never find out.

" _Keeeeeeith_!" cried Pidge appearing in one of the ranks of the shop, running and holding the copy of the game in her hands. Hunk came after her with two copies of the game in his hand. "KEITH, GO TO THE CASHIER!" she shouted above the din of the shop.

Keith realized that there were about three people running after her with copies of the game in their hands shouting to some people who had stayed behind like Keith to do the same. Keith quickly ran to the cashier and noticed that the woman who was waiting in the cashier was laughing.

"I love it when the store makes these announcements," she answered the silent question that was on Keith's expression. "It almost looks like it's a Black Friday"

As soon as the woman finished speaking, Pidge threw herself in front of Keith, with Hunk right behind her, panting because of the race. She handed her copy of the game and a credit card to the woman, handing over a credit card so the woman – Alycia, Keith read the name printed on her shirt - could make the payment. Efficiently, the cashier handed Pidge a bag, along with the game, poster and shopping card that came with the purchase, and Pidge shouted with joy.

They waited for Hunk to finish paying for the two copies he had taken - Keith assumed the second copy was for Lance - and they left the crowded store.

"I can't wait to see Lance's face when he sees what I got for him!" Hunk was saying as Pidge called for another Uber so they could return home.

"Hunk, uh..." Keith paused, looking at the Hunk waiting for Keith to speak, with a confused expression. "Are you going to visit him at the hospital today?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's kind of down lately and I want to cheer him up as fast as possible." Hunk smiled. "Are you thinking of going too?"

"I-I'm not going to the hospital today," he replied in low tone.

"Oh." Hunk looked a little disappointed at Keith's response. "When are you planning to return to the hospital? I know its weekend and you probably have more things to do-

"I don't know when I'm going back to the hospital," Keith replied quickly, clearly lying. He could see Pidge looking at them both.

Hunk was silent for a few seconds, frowning, and Keith could see that he was in conflict.

"You should go visit him soon," Hunk finally said, "I'm sure your visit will make him happier, he won't stop asking about you"

Keith felt his face turn red, and he could hear Pidge laughing beside him. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest.

"R-Really?" He asked and Hunk laughed.

"Really dude," he replied and then spread his arms and wrapped Keith and Pidge in a bear hug. "It was really cool to starting this morning with you guys, we should hang out more"

"We totally should," Pidge agreed.

With that, Hunk said goodbye to the two of them, and left, going home. Pidge and Keith watched him cross the street until he entered one of the shops and disappeared from their sight.

"So, you and Lance, huh" she teased, nudging Keith with his elbow and he turned red again.

* * *

Keith decided to visit Lance on Tuesday after receiving messages from Allura and Hunk - Pidge gave his number to Hunk - asking him to go see him. Apparently the boy keeps asking questions about Keith for both of them - Hunk told Lance about their meeting at Game Stop - and Keith was afraid that Allura would get into some kind of nervous breakdown if he kept hearing Lance ask about Keith.

"He keeps asking me why you're not visiting him," Allura said on the phone Monday morning. "Every time I walk into his room, Lance asks for you. The first thing he asked me this morning when I woke him up was 'Are Keith here yet?'"

"I'm sorry for what you're going through Allura," Keith said in a tight voice.

"You need to come Keith, or I'll drag you from your school to make you go to the hospital," she threatened and even on the phone Keith could feel the force of her words.

"I, uh ..." Keith paused, looking down to the empty school's hallway. He would be late for class again "I can't today"

"Then come tomorrow," she demanded.

"Allura..."

"I'm going to tell Lance that you're coming tomorrow so I can have some peace, and if you don't come tomorrow I'll restrict your visiting hours and not allow you to stay in Shiro's room after the visiting hours are over" she warned her rather demanding accent on the phone.

Keith shook his head, remembering the conversation and entered the hospital, being greeted by Romelle and Allura who seemed to be waiting for him at the reception.

"Allura!" He said in surprise. "You shouldn't have to be here waiting for me."

"Oh, I should" she replied and turned her attention to Romelle who was obviously holding a laugh. "Romelle, please give Keith his visitor's badge."

Romelle rummaged in something behind the reception desk and handed Keith his visitor's badge. She shot Keith a pitying look, but she had a smile on her lips, demonstrating that she was enjoying the whole situation.

"Come on, Keith," Allura commanded, pointing toward the elevator and Keith sighed, giving up.

"Have a nice day, Keith!" Romelle wished, and Keith glanced at her, who just laughed and turned her attention back to the computer.

The walk between the floors was silent and Keith didn't dare say anything. He knew this was his entire fault for not having the courage to return to Lance's room days ago. Even if Lance had asked him to not come back that day to his room, Keith should have entered the room even when he hadn't got the guts to do it, he should have stood by Lance side as any friend would do.

They stopped in front of Lance's room, and Keith glanced nervously at the door.

"Go on," Allura said.

"Allura, I don't know if I can get in," Keith confessed, turning to face the nurse who now gave him a gentle look. "I-I don't know if I have the courage"

"Keith, of course you have" Allura said, her stance softening "Why do you look so scared to come in and see Lance?"

Keith was uneasy over Allura's gaze, casting glances at Lance's door and into the hallway where the elevator door was.

"I-I don't know," he murmured. "I think after seeing Lance's condition the last time I was here, he left me restless... I don't know, I keep seeing his expression and how he asked me to call you and not to go back to his room..."

Keith continued to mumble a few words as he felt himself being wrapped around Allura's warm arms. He was surprised by her reaction that he almost forgot to return the hug.

"I understand Keith," she said softly. "But Lance is your friend and he needs you now."

"I don't know Allura"

"Keith, since you decided to stop visiting him, Lance was always looking very sad, I could see through his expression, even when he tried to disguise with a smile on his lips" Allura said "I know how badly he wants to see you now, and I know that you'll be the only person able to make him happy right now. I think not even Hunk managed to make him happy after he bought him a game that he said he really wanted "she continued and Keith felt his heart soar.

Allura moved away from him, and took his hand, giving a small squeeze, a sign of support.

"Go see him, I think this will make you both happy" she smiled and then turned away, going in another room at the end of the hallway.

Keith turned to the door, and took a deep breath and knocked. He heard some noise inside the room and an energetic voice answered.

"Come in!"

Keith took another deep breath, and entered the room.

The room looked the same, the curtains were open leaving the room brightly lit, some new flowers were added to the room, Keith noticed a stuffed shark on a shelf, and a new blue balloon was attached to the headboard of Lance's bed "Get well soon" writing in the balloon.

"Hey," Keith said looking at the boy who was sitting on the bed.

Lance looked at Keith as if he had entered the room with some celebrity. His eyes were wide with surprise, and his expression seemed to show adoration.

"Keith!" Lance said with a huge smile, his beautiful blue eyes shining.

Keith felt something warm in his stomach. He was definitely affected by Lance's smile.

He walked inside the room and stood beside Lance's bed.

"I didn't know you were coming today!" Lance was saying, his voice still showing surprise. "I asked Allura, but she said that she didn't know when you could come to the hospital."

Keith frowned.

"Didn't Allura say I'd come?" He asked feeling a little annoyed at the woman.

"No," Lance replied, still watching Keith as if he were some kind of mirage. "Uh, hm, Hunk told me he met with you and Pidge and you told him that you didn't know when you could come to the hospital."

"Yeah, sorry," Keith said, a little embarrassed. "I was... busy"

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, until Lance broke the contact, his cheeks a little flushed. He pointed to the chair and Keith sat down, bringing the chair a little closer to Lance's bed.

"So, um, how are you?" Keith asked and Lance started talking, energetic again.

It was as if they had entered the routine again, they talked about their last days, Lance as always complaining of not being able to do anything in the hospital and Keith laughing when he made a joke at one time or another. The weight Keith felt in his stomach was relieving every minute he spent with Lance, feeling happier and he could see that Lance looked happier too. He wondered why he was such an idiot that he didn't even dare to visit Lance. Lance was the best part of his day.

"Hey we didn't finish the game, and you didn't even told me your favorite movie," Lance recalled.

"Uh, oh yeah, we didn't finish it" Keith said "Do you want to continue now?"

"Yeah!" Lance smirked. "You go first, you didn't told me what is your favorite movie"

"Why don't you ask another question?"

"Why don't you answer mine?" Lance crossed his arms, raising his eyebrows and smiled.

"Ugh," Keith grunted.

"Go on"

"It's uh..." Keith paused and looked down at his hands, feeling his cheeks turn red "It's..."

"Yeah?" Lance inclined his head and moved closer to the edge of the bed, closer where Keith sat in the chair.

Keith sighed.

"It's Beauty and the Beast" Keith admitted "There, I said it and I'm proud of it!"

Lance looked at him for a few seconds before he started to laugh too loudly. Keith huffed crossing his arms, and pouted, feeling a little humiliated.

"I can't believe your favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast!" Lance said, now throwing himself on the bed, still laughing.

"It's not that bad," Keith said his whole face now red. "If you keep laughing like that, I'll leave," he threatened, getting up from the chair.

"No no no no" Lance spoke trying to recover from his attack of laughter. He sat on the bed and took deep breaths before talking again. "Please, don't go" he asked "I promise I won't laugh anymore"

Keith looked at him for a few seconds before seating again.

"Beauty and the Beast its fine a movie" he murmured.

"Yeah, yeah I know," Lance said, biting his lips, trying to hold back his laughter. "But looking at you I would never think that your favorite movie would be anything related to any Disney princess"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you look like an emo," Lance explained, pointing to the black clothes and red jacket. "I assumed that your favorite movie was Halloween or something."

"I'm not an emo," he said defensively. "I don't know why people keep telling me this!"

"Sure you're not buddy," Lance said shaking his head.

"Can we go back to the questions now?" Keith said, now a little irritated.

"Of course." Lance laughed. "The last time we played, you would ask me a question," he reminded him.

Keith was confused for a moment until he remembered the question he wanted to ask. He was a little nervous, not knowing if he was going to ask this to Lance, but it was something he really wanted to know, and Keith was sure Lance wouldn't be upset if he asked.

"Okay," he said, pausing to take a deep breath before asking, "Why are you hospitalized?"

Keith watched Lance's expression shift from confusion to surprise and then indecision. Lance was quiet for two whole minutes, and Keith was beginning to wonder if he had made the right decision when Lance looked at him.

"I have cancer," he answered, and turned his gaze to his hands.

"Oh," Keith said and he could feel the weight of those words falling on him. He suddenly felt a huge urge to hug Lance and never let go, say comforting words to him, say that everything would be fine and that he would get away with it, but he couldn't process his thoughts and force to say everything.

"I'm so sorry" was all he could say.

"Yeah," Lance said, fiddling with the sheets "It sucks"

Keith watched Lance and he tried to say something, _anything_ that would cheer him up, but all he could say was one more question.

"It's was long time that you found out?" He asked.

Lance shook his head, not taking his eyes from his hands.

"No, I found out three weeks before I went to the hospital," he replied and Keith stayed quiet. He didn't want to force Lance to say anything, and he knew that eventually Lance would end up talking to him. "Before I went to the doctor, I started to feel very ill, Mama thought that I might have some kind of flu or a virus, but everything I was feeling didn't go away, and it started to get worse and I ended up losing a lot of weight ..."

"Lance you don't need to-"

"No, I want to tell you," Lance said looking at Keith before turning his attention to his hands. "One night I had a fever that didn't want to pass and Mama decided to take me to the doctor," he continued. "At first the doctor also suspected the same that Mama, but she ended up telling him that my symptoms started to get worse even if she tried to medicate me with something that always worked when I or my siblings had flu"

"He passed a series of exams for me to do and asked me to spend the night in the hospital emergency room to see if he could at least decrease my fever while he waited for the results of my exams." He paused "The next day he went to see me and he us that what I had was something I would never have thought I would have."

Keith listened to Lance's words, watching him continue to move his hands nervously.

"Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes," he said." Lance grimaced as if he had relived a bad memory. Probably he was, Keith thought, "The moment Mama heard that what I had was cancer, she started to cry, she couldn't stop herself from hugging me, and the world around me seemed to stop..." he paused" The doctor tried to calm Mama, but she continued to cry and I was starting to freak out.

"Eventually Mama stopped crying and the doctor continued to explain my situation to us. The good news was that my condition wasn't serious, and if I started doing chemo as soon as possible I could recover and heal from cancer, I would just have to make some visits to the doctor to follow the evolution of my recovery "

Lance stopped and ran his hands through his hair, and Keith realized how tired he looked. Allura was right, Lance hid everything through his contagious smile.

"The bad news was - not so bad, but still bad - I found out after starting the treatment" Lance shot a quick glance at Keith and spoke again "It may have been because of cancer and some kind of infection which I may have had, I don't know for sure, but I ended up developing low immunity, so my reaction to the chemotherapy is very violent, and since chemotherapy can also cause low immunity it all got worse - my hair is already falling down for god sake - so I had a talk with Mama and the rest of my family and decided that it would be better for me and my recovery and treatment if I were to go and stay in the hospital while I was doing chemotherapy, "Lance finished.

Keith was silent, not knowing what to say after everything Lance had just said. He wasn't good with words or feelings, and he was sure that Lance had heard words of comfort before and that wasn't what he needed now.

Without thinking twice, Keith rose from his chair and hugged Lance. The boy was taken aback, and a few seconds later, Lance returned the hug, holding the cloth of Keith's shirt tightly. Keith felt something wet in front of his shirt, and he heard Lance sniffing against his chest. Gently, Keith ran a hand through Lance's hair, and he began to sob.

"M-My hair is f-falling Keith" he tried to say through the sobs "Half the time I'm not feeling well... I just want this to b-be over"

Keith's eyes filled with tears at Lance's words. All he wanted was to take the pain out of Lance and transfer it to himself, he hated to have to see Lance like that.

"It will be okay," he murmured to Lance "It will be okay, it will be okay"

Keith recited the words not sure if they were more for him or for Lance, all he knew now was that Lance needed him.

"It will be okay," he said again, feeling Lance's body tremble against him and the tears continued to fall.

 _It will be okay, It will be okay, It will be okay, It will be okay_ , Keith continued to recite in his head.

 _It will be okay._

 _It will._


End file.
